BMB Weekly #3: January 19, 2024

 

MSU’s Mass Spectrometry and Metabolomics Core completes $2.2 million renovation The Mass Spectrometry and Metabolomics Core located in the College of Natural Science’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, completed nearly $2.2 million in renovations. The renovations represent a full overhaul of 3,400 square feet of laboratory, with an emphasis on improving day-to-day operations and building upon the facility’s already storied presence in MSU’s research and education. The completion of renovations also coincides with the arrival of new instruments, better-equipping researchers across campus to probe questions in chemistry and life sciences. Read the full story here.

 

 

Ian Maze from the School of Medicine at Mount Sinai will be presenting "Protein monoaminylation in the brain: novel mechanisms of neural development, plasticity, and disease".

To join us on Zoom, click this link. Password: bmbseminar

The Spring BMB Seminar Series will run through April 18, 2024. The complete schedule is available on the BMB Spring Seminar Series website. If you are interested in meeting with any of these speakers please email Leslie Williams, glady@msu.edu. Many speakers are planning to visit in-person. A zoom option will continue to be offered for all seminars.

 

 

Join us for MPS speaker Giles Oldroyd from the University of Cambridge. The seminar will be held at 4:00 p.m. in BCH room 101.

Giles talk is titled “Achieving sustainable productivity in agriculture through beneficial microbial associations.” We would like to invite graduate students and postdocs to join the speaker for a lunch and discussion. Lunch will be provided at 12:00 p.m. in PLB 168. This is a great opportunity to meet our outside speaker in an informal environment. If you would like to participate in the luncheon, please RSVP to Keri Morris (morrisk@msu.edu) with any dietary restrictions by Friday, January 19, 2024 at noon. All students and post docs who are interested in this week’s seminar topic are welcome to attend. You do not need to be in the MPS program or affiliated with an MPS faculty member.

Hosted by the WorkLife Office, this session delves into the Surgeon General’s report on the pervasive issues of loneliness and isolation. We will discuss the impact of these challenges on mental and physical health, emphasizing their relevance in academic and workplace settings. Participants will learn about effective strategies and best practices to address these concerns, enhancing community and connectedness within their environments. This session aims to equip attendees from diverse roles with the knowledge and tools to effectively confront and mitigate the epidemic of loneliness and isolation in their communities. Learn more and register here.

In this 3-hour workshop, plans for time management and working with others will be the main focus. Participants will create academic timelines for their PhD work at MSU and discuss technologies and habits that can help them stay on task. Participants will also discuss how to manage the stress that often pervades the life of PhD students and share strategies for overcoming writer’s block and procrastination. Additionally, discussion about selecting and working with committees will provide a space for sharing about and learning how to communicate with faculty members about participants’ research and writing. Learn more and register here.

In this 3-hour workshop, the focus will be on writing processes and practices. Every PhD program at MSU requires comprehensive exams, dissertation proposals, and dissertations. In the workshop, participants will explore and share their current writing practices and be given practical writing and revision strategies. During the latter half of the workshop, participants will develop a plan for developing and completing their dissertations. Learn more and register here.

In this two-day NIH-focused webinar designed for faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and administrative staff who have some exposure to writing grant applications, Write Winning Grants comprehensively covers practical and conceptual aspects essential to the proposal-writing process. Learn more and register here.

No experience required – just come out and have fun! Exclusively for MSU graduate/professional students and their accompanied guests. FREE – Skate rental included. Learn more here.

This 6-week group provides doctoral students with a supportive, structured environment that helps mitigate the sense of isolation and frustration that often accompany the dissertation process. It also creates opportunities for peer accountability to help each other stay on track. A weekly discussion topic allows participants to share experiences and resources that help address some of the most common barriers to progress (e.g., low motivation, time management, stress/burnout). This group is open only to PhD students who are actively working on their dissertation. Learn more and register here.

 

This award is given to graduate and professional students who have clearly demonstrated leadership in their respective disciplines and/or professional societies at the local, state, regional, national, or international levels while a student at MSU. Nominators/recommendations should come from a faculty member (at MSU or in the disciplinary society) with knowledge of the student’s leadership activities and who is familiar with the impacts of their leadership activities. Learn more and make a nomination here.

This award is given to graduate and professional students who:

1. Embody and clearly demonstrate DEI work through addressing, challenging, or dismantling forms of discrimination, sexism, racism, and prejudice in or through their program, unit, or department at MSU; or by creating a more equitable environment in or through their program, unit, or department at MSU.
2. Clearly demonstrate what work they did and the extent of that work, demonstrate the outcomes of that work, and display their commitment to furthering DEI in or through their program, unit, or department at MSU.

Learn more and make a nomination here.

This fellowship will be awarded to students at graduate levels. Applicants will have graduated from a US public high school and demonstrated academic excellence in their undergraduate studies.

Applicants may be pursuing a degree in the following disciplines:

• Education: preference to be given to those who currently teach S.T.E.M subjects (i.e. classroom teachers returning for a Masters or PhD)
• Healthcare: this includes students in healthcare related fields, i.e., medical, nursing, pharmacy, veterinary medicine and public health.
• Engineering: students who are pursuing an advanced degree in bioengineering.

Learn more and apply here.

 

The Graduate School provides a variety of services that are available to graduate students, including career consultation, well-being resources, teaching assistant and diversity programs, and much more. We encourage new graduate students to follow this link to view a collection of these services.

COGS has partnered with MSU Group Fitness to host twice-weekly fitness classes this Spring semester! No experience needed. Drop-ins welcome. For January, we'll have Cycling class at IM-West on Tuesdays and Pilates on Wednesdays, all from 2-3PM. Learn more here.

The MSU Department of Police and Public Safety has released an online Active Violence Incident Awareness Training program that is available for students, faculty, and staff. This training includes a presentation explaining how to respond during an active violence situation. Throughout the training, knowledge checkpoint questions will appear on screen to evaluate participants’ understanding of the content. In addition, a video is in development, which will be included in the training at a later time. Learn more here.

Eligible to undergraduates, graduates, and professional students enrolled in Fall/Spring semester and without a dining plan. Fruits, soups, pasta, rice, protein, cereal, bread, and fresh produce available year-round! To learn more about visiting the MSU Foodbank, or to donate, visit here.

 

We are looking for a technician to assist with SNP‐based genotyping of maize plants within a highly collaborative research team. This industry‐funded project seeks to identify genetic markers of plant N status of maize. Responsibilities of the incumbent will include genomic DNA extractions, primer design, PCRs and restriction digests, in addition to other possible molecular biology techniques. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

The First-year Research Immersion (FRI) program at Binghamton University invites applications for a three-year renewable, full time Research Assistant Professor (also known as the Research Educator) position, to begin August 2024. This is a unique 10-month non-tenure track faculty position that directly combines teaching and research. This position is for Biomedical Chemistry (open to individuals with appropriate background in biochemistry, molecular biology, chemistry and/or pharmacology). Candidates must have completed PhD degree before starting. Learn more and apply here.

Quinn Laboratory in collaboration with the Coral Resilience Lab (PI: Drury) at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology are looking for a postdoctoral scholar to study the microbiome and metabolome of coral reefs. This project is a fully funded position from the National Science Foundation under its Organismal Response to Climate Change program that aims to understand the biochemistry and microbiology of coral bleaching. Recent research from our group has shown that unique lipids in the coral’s dinoflagellate symbiont reflect its tolerance to thermal stress. This project will integrate multi-omics analysis in the Quinn Lab with field sampling experiments in Kāneʻohe Bay, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi to further understand the dynamics of coral biochemical and microbiological response to temperature stress. Methods used will include mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and high-throughput nucleic acid sequencing. Experiments are designed to mimic future climate conditions and include direct restoration of reefs in Hawaii as part of the program. The position is based in East Lansing but will include field trips and experiments in Kāneʻohe Bay, Hawaiʻi. Learn more about this MSU Careers posting and apply at this link.

Seeking a student employee to assist with clerical/office tasks in the Rhee research lab in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.  The student will support the PI, research associates and specialists, and office staff. Visit Handshake to learn about this opportunity with Rhee Lab. Contact cassin@msu.edu for inquiries.

 

Chen, J., Kuhn, L. A., & Raschka, S. (2024). Techniques for Developing Reliable Machine Learning Classifiers Applied to Understanding
         and Predicting Protein:Protein Interaction Hot Spots. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.), 2714, 235–268.
         https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3441-7_14

Ford, K. C., & TerAvest, M. A. (2023). The electron transport chain of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 can operate bidirectionally to enable
        microbial electrosynthesis. Applied and environmental microbiology, e0138723. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.01387-23

Heo, L., & Feig, M. (2024). One bead per residue can describe all-atom protein structures. Structure (London, England : 1993), 32(1), 97–111.e6.
         https://doi.org/10.1016/j.str.2023.10.013

Hoh, D., Froehlich, J. E., & Kramer, D. M. (2023). Redox regulation in chloroplast thylakoid lumen: The pmf changes everything, again. Plant,
         cell & environment, 10.1111/pce.14789. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14789

Hossain, M. M., Sultana, F., Khan, S., Nayeema, J., Mostafa, M., Ferdus, H., Tran, L. P., & Mostofa, M. G. (2024). Carrageenans as biostimulants
         and bio-elicitors: plant growth and defense responses. Stress biology, 4(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44154-023-00143-9

Kulke, M., Kurtz, E., Boren, D. M., Olson, D. M., Koenig, A. M., Hoffmann-Benning, S., & Vermaas, J. V. (2024). PLAT domain protein 1 (PLAT1/PLAFP)
         binds to the Arabidopsis thaliana plasma membrane and inserts a lipid. Plant science : an international journal of experimental plant biology, 338, 111900.              https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2023.111900

Li, L., Lai, F., Hu, X., Liu, B., Lu, X., Lin, Z., Liu, L., Xiang, Y., Frum, T., Halbisen, M. A., Chen, F., Fan, Q., Ralston, A., & Xie, W. (2023). Multifaceted
         SOX2-chromatin interaction underpins pluripotency progression in early embryos. Science (New York, N.Y.), 382(6676), eadi5516
         https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi5516

Mancuso, C. A., Johnson, K. A., Liu, R., & Krishnan, A. (2024). Joint representation of molecular networks from multiple species improves gene
         classification. PLoS computational biology, 20(1), e1011773. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011773

Marathe, S., Grotewold, E., & Otegui, M. S. (2024). Should I stay or should I go? Trafficking of plant extra-nuclear transcription factors. The
         Plant cell, koad277. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad277

Martin, C., Guzior, D. V., Gonzalez, C. T., Okros, M., Mielke, J., Padillo, L., Querido, G., Gil, M., Thomas, R., McClelland, M., Conrad, D., Widder,
         S., & Quinn, R. A. (2023). Longitudinal microbial and molecular dynamics in the cystic fibrosis lung after Elexacaftor-Tezacaftor-Ivacaftor therapy.
         Respiratory research, 24(1), 317. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12931-023-02630-z

 

 

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College of Natural Science | BMB Weekly | Vol. 57, No.3